Flight Safety Information
October 19, 2015 - No. 207
In This Issue
Drone owners may be asked to register devices
Drones Face New Regulatory Push
Jet Returns to LAX Gate After Onboard Disturbance
Russian Firm Offers Alternative To Findings on Downing of Jet
LOCKHEED MOUNTED A LASER TURRET ON BUSINESS JET
Are Computers Making Airline Pilots Obsolete?
Brazil's top court rejects US pilots' appeal in 2006 crash
FAA to Let Airlines Seek to Delay Navigation Upgrades
Brazilian man bites fellow passenger, dies on Irish aircraft
FAA Announces Aviation Safety Rating for the Republic of Nicaragua
KSU Polytechnic's Alexander Uses Sabbatical to Improve Aviation Safety
Standards in Belize
Airplane crashes on Colombia's capital Bogota: At least 4 killed
ANA 777 Blocking Runway
PROS 2015 TRAINING
Aviation legend honored...Burt Rutan
Air force recruits student pilots (China)
Reserve units draw pilots with $45,000 incentives
Italy's Tecnam to produce aircraft in China
SpiceJet to order smaller aircraft to boost regional connectivity
Pocatello airport solar panel project lease approved
Leadership: Flight Departments Strive To Strategize
Call For Papers Reminder - CHC Safety and Quality Summit 2016
GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST (1)
GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST (2)
Upcoming Events
JOBS AVAILABLE (New Positions)
Drone owners may be asked to register devices
Government eyeing new regulations for drones
BOSTON -The government may soon force drone owners to register their devices.
There have been cases of drones flying near airports around the country, including
Boston's Logan International Airport.
The federal government is taking action in hopes of better regulating the devices.
An estimated 500,000 drones are already flying and another 750,000 are expected to be
sold during the holiday season.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the FAA and the Transportation Department want
recreational drone users to register their devices.
Federal officials plan to appoint a task force to oversee the registration policy. The task
force would have to make rules on what specific drones would be allowed to fly near
airports or beyond the sight of an operator.
They would also figure out how drone users will register and if current drone owners
would have to abide by the new rules.
The plan would go into effect by the end of the year.
http://www.wcvb.com/news/drone-owners-may-be-asked-to-register-devices/35916324
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Drones Face New Regulatory Push
U.S. aims to issue final registration rules before Christmas, an unusually fast timeline
Regulators have struggled to keep up with the proliferation of drones, which have
become smaller, cheaper and easier to fly.
U.S. regulators plan to require recreational drone owners to register their devices, an
ambitious bid to rein in reckless users that faces a tight timeline and a thicket of legal
and practical questions.
The Transportation Department plans to announce Monday that it wants to soon require
registration for all unmanned aircraft "except for toys and those with minimal safety
risk," according to a draft news release reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The department plans to create a task force of more than two dozen government and
industry representatives to recommend the specifics of a registration policy, including
which drones should be included, how users will register and whether the rules will apply
to drones already sold, according to people familiar with the plans. The draft news
release says the department wants to "create a culture of accountability" for drone
operators.
Several people said the government aims to issue final registration rules before
Christmas, an exceptionally fast timeline for aviation regulations. Typical aviation
rulemakings take years.
The Transportation Department said it planned to make a drone-related announcement
Monday but declined further comment.
Regulators and lawmakers have struggled to keep up with the proliferation of drones as
new technology has made them smaller, cheaper and easier to fly, increasing concern
that the devices pose a threat to people in the air and on the ground. Industry
executives estimate hundreds of thousands of drones have been sold in the U.S.
Registration would be one of regulators' most ambitious steps to crack down on unsafe
flights and enforce existing rules, including that drones can't be flown near airports or
beyond the sight of an operator.
Defining which drones would require registration is expected to be a key issue for the
task force, several committee members said. Commercial drones are to be regulated by
separate rules expected to be completed next year.
Regulators are expected to require registration for the most popular recreational drones-
four-rotor copters called Phantoms made by China's SZ DJI Technology Co. that sell for
roughly $1,000-and similar models. Members said regulators might be willing to exclude
smaller devices, such as the 2-ounce, $100 MiniDrones sold by French manufacturer
Parrot SA.
Several drone-industry executives and former government officials expressed skepticism
that regulators would be able to meet the year-end goal. One person familiar with the
government's plans said the agency intends to declare the rule an emergency, allowing
regulators to short-circuit a process that normally requires monthslong reviews and
public-comment periods.
Completing an aviation rule in three months would be "unprecedented," said Jim
Williams, who retired in June as the top drone official at the Federal Aviation
Administration and is now a consultant for the law firm Dentons. "It would be the most
amazing feat of governance I've seen in my 33 years in the federal government."
People associated with the industry raised a host of other logistical questions: Will drone
sellers be required to collect customer information? How will the policy account for
homemade drones? Can the FAA simplify and streamline a registration process that for
manned aircraft typically takes about three months?
The expedited timeline worries many, including those who support registration to help
educate users about airspace rules.
"It's a step in the right direction," said Gretchen West, an adviser at law firm Hogan
Lovells LLP. But the government's timeline "makes me nervous what the outcome will
be."
Others noted that the commercial-drone rules have been in the works since 2005. "After
10 years of rule making, we suddenly have this scramble to do something within a
month, which is terribly short under any circumstances," said Brendan Schulman, DJI's
head of policy.
Mr. Williams, the former FAA official, and others also questioned how regulators plan to
deal with a 2012 law that generally prohibits the FAA from regulating recreational
drones. FAA officials have cited that law as the reason they don't plan extensive
regulations for recreational drones, similar to those for commercial devices.
"This is a serious open question," said task-force member Greg McNeal, a Pepperdine
University law professor and co-founder of AirMap, an airspace-information app for drone
users.
The person familiar with the government's plans said that federal lawyers are expected
to argue that drones are legally aircraft, and thus the FAA can require them to be
registered under other laws.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/drones-face-new-regulatory-push-1445211771
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Jet Returns to LAX Gate After Onboard Disturbance
Authorities say a Southwest Airlines jetliner returned to the gate at Los Angeles
International Airport without taking off after an onboard disturbance.
Airport police officer Rob Pedregon says that San Francisco-bound Flight 2010 left the
gate at about 10:25 p.m. Sunday.
He tells City News Service that police were notified of a disturbance about 15 minutes
later when the aircraft was on the taxiway.
The plane was ordered to return to the gate.
He says that the FBI took over after the flight was recalled.
No details were available on the nature of the disturbance, and there was no immediate
word of any arrests.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-jet-returns-lax-gate-onboard-disturbance-
34569024
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Russian Firm Offers Alternative To Findings on Downing of Jet
MOSCOW - Russia's largest defense firm, the air-defense concern Almaz-Antey, blew up
a decommissioned Ilyushin Il-86 passenger jet earlier this month in a bid to show that
one of its Buk missiles could not have been responsible for the downing of Malaysia
Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine last year.
At a press conference held at a convention center outside Moscow on Oct. 13, Almaz-
Antey shared with reporters the results of two static experiments that company officials
said were designed to validate or discredit the results of a preliminary report issued by
the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) on the nature of MH17's demise.
The presentation was curiously timed, held just hours before the DSB held its own
conference to present its final report on the destruction of MH17: that the airplane was
downed by a Russian-made Buk 9M38M1 missile armed with a 9N314M warhead.
DSB Chairman Tjibbe Joustra said at the Dutch press conference that the missile
exploded to the upper-left of the plane's cockpit, and riddled both the airframe and the
flight crew's bodies with hourglass-shaped shrapnel characteristic of the 9N314M.
"This fits the kind of warhead installed in the Buk surface-to-air missile system," Joustra
said, without going into detail about who the commission suspected operated the missile
that destroyed the MH17 Boeing 777 aircraft on July 17, 2014.
Both Ukraine and Russia use Buk missile systems, though Russia claims to operate only
newer systems using the 9M317 missile, having retired the older 9M38-series weapons
in 2011, according to Almaz-Antey chief Yan Novikov.
Despite Novikov claiming at his company's MH17 investigation press conference in June
that the company determined only an old Buk 9M38M1 armed with a 9N314M warhead
could have created the damage patterns seen on photos of the MH17 wreckage, Almaz-
Antey fingered the even older 9M38 missile with an old 9N314 warhead.
The key difference between the two missiles and their respective warheads is the
presence of the distinctive butterfly-shaped, or "I-beam," shrapnel fragments. Almaz-
Antey in June said these fragments were present in the wreckage, only to deny their
existence last week.
Almaz-Antey sought to prove that MH17 could only have been shot down by the older
9M38 without I-beam fragments by cutting the forward section off an old Ilyushin Il-86
transport plane and positioning a Buk 9M38-M1 missile nearby in a static explosive test.
The position of the Buk corresponded with the DSB's conclusion that the missile was
fired from the Ukrainian town of Snizhne, which was under rebel control the day MH17
was shot down. When the static missile was detonated, Almaz-Antey recorded the blast
pattern.
Almaz-Antey in June promised to procure a decommissioned Boeing 777 to destroy with
a Buk 9M38-M1 - a missile that in June the company said was not in Russian stockpiles,
but last week said was provided by the Defense Ministry - but said it couldn't find one,
and used an Il-86 instead. The two planes have similar shapes and structures, Novikov
said.
According to Mikhail Malyshevsky, an adviser to Almaz-Antey's chief designer tasked
with presenting the company's experiment and findings, the pattern seen on the Il-86
during the static test does not correspond with the patterns seen on MH17.
This, in Malyshevsky's argument, discredits the Dutch finding that the missile was fired
from Snizhne - directly in the flight path of MH17 - and the shrapnel trajectories in the
wreckage did not correspond with that scenario.
Almaz-Antey instead offered up a different version of events, one they claim was based
on the geometry of the shrapnel patterns, in which the missile was fired from south of
MH17's flight path. This places the launch site in the township of Zaroshchenskoye, a
town that may or may not have been under rebel control at the time, but Russia insists
was under Ukrainian control.
"We have proved beyond doubt that the missile fired over Ukraine was a 9M38 from a
Buk launched from the south near the village of Zaroshchenskoye," Novikov said. The
company did not thoroughly explain the change in its narrative.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/10/18/russian-firm-offers-alternative-
findings-downing-jet/74014360/
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LOCKHEED MOUNTED A LASER TURRET ON BUSINESS JET
JUST FOR TESTING
Lasers could be the future of aerial warfare. Defense giant Lockheed Martin, which has
already tested a directed energy weapon (or laser) on the ground, announced yesterday
60 successful tests of a laser turret on a business jet between 2014 and 2015. While the
turret only fired a low-powered laser, it's still a success because it was able to counteract
the effect of turbulence on the beam. From the release:
The design uses the latest aerodynamic and flow-control technology to minimize the
impacts of turbulence on a laser beam. An optical compensation system, which uses
deformable mirrors, then is used to ensure that the beam can get through the
atmosphere to the target. Left unchecked, turbulence would scatter the light particles
that make up a laser beam, much like fog diffuses a flashlight beam.
If the test carries over to more high-powered lasers, then airplanes will be able to use
the same kinds of energy weapons as those on ships and on the ground.
Last year, in conversation with Popular Science, Lockheed's Chief Technology Officer said
of an airborne laser weapon: "It's game changing. Should you develop an operational
weapon that operates at Mach a million, that's game changing." This turret is part of that
package. The program, funded by DARPA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, is
called "Aero-adaptive Aero-optic Beam Control", and it's been in the works for some
time. One promise of the technology: defending larger airplanes, much like machine gun
turrets protected bombers in World War II. Only this time, instead of shooting down
fighter jets, the lasers could also stop missiles and drones.
http://www.popsci.com/lockheed-tested-laser-turret-on-business-jet
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Are Computers Making Airline Pilots Obsolete?
Are pilots going to go the way of the dodo?
Quora Questions are part of a partnership between Newsweek and Quora, through which
we'll be posting relevant and interesting answers from Quora contributors throughout the
week. Read more about the partnership here.
Answer from Tom Farrier, Retired U.S. Air Force pilot; Chair, Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Working Group
From my perspective, the opposite situation to what you describe actually is the case, at
least for the foreseeable future. Emergencies are where automation can get fouled up
the most, and any non-standard operational situations encountered mid-flight are likely
to create electronic confusion.
Routine flights where everything goes exactly as anticipated are increasingly easy to
automate, to the point that the pilots tend to find themselves in the role of being system
managers and monitors more than actually getting to exercise their skills. On-board
systems can indeed manage flight parameters and optimize the efficient operation of the
aircraft more precisely than the average pilot...as long as everything follows the
playbook.
The biggest limitations associated with letting robots fly and dispensing with pilots are:
1. Not every flight remains routine. The design philosophy of some airframe
manufacturers basically is to keep the pilots out of the way of the automation as much
as possible while allowing them to monitor what's actually going on. When something
out of the ordinary crops up, or when the normal progression of a flight must be
modified to respond to an unexpected situation, it can be tough even for pilots aboard an
aircraft and directly participating in the progress of the flight to intervene as needed. The
abstract describing a 2007 MIT paper on "mode confusion" (Aspects of automation mode
confusion) addresses this issue as follows:
"Complex systems such as commercial aircraft are difficult for operators to manage.
Designers, intending to simplify the interface between the operator and the system, have
introduced automation to assist the operator. In most cases, the automation has helped
the operator, but at times operator confusion as to what the automation is doing has
created dangerous situations that lead to property damage or loss of life. This problem,
known as mode confusion, has been difficult to analyze and thus solutions tend to be
reactive instead of proactive."
2. Not every flight follows exactly the same sequence of events every single time. The
aviation system is a chaotic system; for example:
Weather forces changes in routes;
Different types of aircraft operate at different speeds and climb and descend at different
rates, leaving different amounts of wake turbulence behind them;
Aircraft operating under "instrument" and "visual" flight rules often share the same
airspace;
Emergencies may require reshuffling the priority of landing aircraft;
People get sick on airplanes and need to be taken to the nearest acceptable location for
treatment; and
Forest fires and volcanoes can affect flight conditions.
Any and all of these conditions require pilots and air traffic controllers to respond to and
manage them in real time. Sophisticated unmanned aircraft like the Northrop Grumman
RQ-4 Global Hawk can fly literally thousands of miles with hardly any pilot input at all;
the tradeoff is that the RQ-4s were not designed to play well with others (requiring all
other traffic basically to be routed in consideration of the drone's flight plan), and each
mission requires dozens of hours of route planning to execute. Imagine if every single
plane in the sky was subject to such requirements, and you start seeing the real-world
implications of turning flying over to inflexible programming.
3. Garbage in = garbage out. If anything interferes with the computer's ability to
perceive the world, everyone aboard the aircraft is likely to have a very bad day.
Damaged or malfunctioning airspeed indicators, altimeters, angle-of-attack sensors and
the like have been at the center of many accidents over time. As I see it, their potential
contribution to accidents would be magnified many times over if a ground-based pilot
starts getting gibberish over the downlink and has to try to sort out truth from electronic
hallucinations in realtime, without the benefit of being able to directly perceive what the
heck is going on.
There probably will be workable, 100% (or close enough) reliable solutions to everything
I've described above. However, we aren't there yet. Even if Moore's Law continues to
operate and on-board computational power continues to double every couple of years, I
doubt even the smartest artificial intelligences will be capable of handling all aviation
operations on their own until mid-century at the earliest. (I don't plan on riding on
anything like that until I'm satisfied that it can handle everything that's thrown at it, so
I'll probably be in the ground before I get a chance to do so.)
http://www.newsweek.com/quora-question-are-computers-making-airline-pilots-
obsolete-381386
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Brazil's top court rejects US pilots' appeal in 2006 crash
SAO PAULO - Brazil's Supreme Court has rejected two U.S. pilots' appeal of their
conviction and prison sentence for their role in a 2006 midair jet collision over the
Amazon that killed 154 people.
The ruling late Thursday ordered pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino to return to
Brazil from the United States, where they have been since a few months after the crash,
to serve sentences of a little over three years.
The U.S. Embassy did not respond to questions on whether Brazilian officials had
formally requested the extradition of the two Americans. Emailed and telephoned
requests for comment went unanswered by Brazil's Justice Ministry, through which any
official extradition request would flow.
The men's lawyer in Brazil also did not respond to requests for comment on the ruling.
The pilots' trial and appeal were both held in absentia.
Maristela Basso, who teaches international law at the University of Sao Paulo, said that
although the two nations have an extradition treaty, she has never seen an American
extradited to Brazil after being convicted in a Brazilian court.
"But there are cases of Americans sentenced in Brazil who have done the jail time in the
U.S.," she added.
Lepore and Paladino were piloting an Embraer Legacy jet when it collided with a Boeing
737 operated by Brazilian airline Gol. The business jet landed safely but the passenger
plane plunged into the jungle in the remote north of Mato Grosso state, killing all aboard.
The two pilots were accused of flying at the wrong altitude and failing to turn on the
aircraft's anti-collision system. They denied wrongdoing and said their anti-collision
system was never turned off.
A representative of the victims' families said the court's decision brought some sense of
closure.
"The penalty is very mild, but we have a feeling that somehow justice was served,"
Rosane Gutjahr said.
"Now there is some relief for us all," she added.
The 2006 collision was Brazil's worst air disaster at the time.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazils-top-court-rejects-us-
pilots-appeal-in-2006-crash/2015/10/16/dd95a1ec-7443-11e5-ba14-
318f8e87a2fc_story.html
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FAA to Let Airlines Seek to Delay Navigation Upgrades
The move partly reflects strategy to retain key airline support for more complex,
expensive traffic-control improvements
A JetBlue pilot, left, navigates a NextGen flight simulator with FAA Administrator Michael
Huerta, in Orlando, Fla., in 2012.
By ANDY PASZTOR
Federal aviation regulators are ready to exempt numerous U.S. airlines from a
requirement to make certain satellite-navigation upgrades by 2020, a delay that may
further complicate air-traffic control modernization.
The Federal Aviation Administration's decision, which has prompted controversy among
avionics suppliers, means that passenger or cargo carriers that formally request a delay
could get up to several extra years to achieve full compliance.
Meanwhile, the agency is sticking with the 2020 deadline for a broader and more
powerful technology, known as ADS-B Out, intended to provide more accurate and
reliable speed, altitude and other position data to ground stations and controllers
nationwide.
Based on a case-by-case analysis including specific timelines to be proposed by
individual carriers, the FAA will consider extending the deadline for swapping out older
Global Positioning Satellite receivers to as late as 2025. The latest-design GPS receivers
are an element of the core ADS-B enhancements. But without the exemptions, jetliners
equipped with earlier-generation GPS receivers effectively would be grounded by January
2020.
Commuter airlines, the Pentagon and private pilots also may request similar treatment,
despite FAA assertions over the years that it won't change its 2020 timetable for
equipping more than 5,000 commercial planes and tens of thousands of other aircraft
with a range of navigation upgrades.
The move partly reflects the agency's strategy to retain key airline support for more
complex, expensive and longer-term traffic-control improvements, according to some
industry officials and other experts.
FAA critics, some of whom contend the agency is buckling to airline pressure, said the
move could be a catalyst for rollbacks of future mandates. They don't argue that the
exemptions pose a safety threat.
There is dissension even among avionics manufacturers seeking to sell receivers. Some
officials object to the FAA's exemptions as unduly favorable to airlines. Others see them
as progress toward a consensus. "The idea is to get everyone back" in line when it
comes to the overall modernization effort, dubbed NextGen, according to one high-
ranking avionics executive involved in the discussions.
According to the FAA, the policy provides "a strict, limited timeframe" allowing airliners
that "adopted GPS technology early to maximize the return on that investment." On its
website and in an email response from a spokeswoman, the agency emphasized that the
exemptions won't offer any relief from more-sweeping requirements to implement ADS-B
Out by 2020.
"The FAA and industry have not wavered on their commitment to implement" those core
devices across the fleet, according to the spokeswoman, who added the exemptions will
permit only "minor degradation in GPS performance" from previously mandated accuracy
and reliability levels. She said no airline has applied yet and it is too early to estimate
how many carriers would do so.
The FAA's policy decision dates back to August and was prompted by a request by
Airlines for America, a trade association that represents 10 U.S. airlines, including the
three largest, and has been a lead critic of the FAA's overall NextGen priorities. Some of
the group's members had been outspoken about the expense of ADS-B equipage, and
over the years criticized the agency's effectiveness in carrying out its road map.
Relations have improved recently, with a joint government-industry panel working to
reduce friction and promote compromise.
In its submission, the industry group said the necessary GPS equipment won't be widely
available in time to meet the original compliance timetable. It emphasized that requiring
installation of stopgap solutions would be costly and inefficient, noting that "the
performance capabilities of existing GPS receivers provide a safe alternate means of
surveillance" and traffic control.
"Multiple retrofits would be an expensive, disruptive and wasteful outcome," according to
the submission.
Industry officials also have argued that current ground-based radars can plug any
temporary gaps in GPS coverage. The satellite accuracy and reliability levels mandated
in the FAA's initial rule far exceed requirements imposed thus far by European
authorities, according to U.S. airlines.
In agreeing to grant relief, the FAA determined that airlines still "would be compliant
with the regulations for a vast majority of the time."
According to the agency's risk assessment, aircraft equipped with the least-capable GPS
receivers over five years could accumulate roughly 90 days of noncompliant flights,
which the agency called "an unacceptable risk." But that risk would be mitigated in any
exemption, according to the agency, because some flights won't be allowed to take off
unless adequate radar coverage is ensured to compensate for degraded satellite
tracking.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/faa-to-let-airlines-seek-to-delay-navigation-upgrades-
1445017417
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Brazilian man bites fellow passenger, dies on Irish aircraft
DUBLIN - Police say a 24-year-old Brazilian man has collapsed and died on board an
Irish aircraft after becoming frenetic and attacking a fellow passenger.
Sunday night's Aer Lingus flight from Lisbon, Portugal, to Dublin was diverted to the
southwest Irish city of Cork, where paramedics pronounced the man dead on arrival.
Passengers said he had bitten a man sitting near him and crew members sought to
handcuff him before he lost consciousness. A doctor and nurse on board failed to revive
him.
Cork police arrested a 44-year-old Portuguese woman traveling with the Brazilian man
after discovering 2 kilograms (5 pounds) of suspected amphetamine powder in her
suitcase.
The bitten passenger was admitted to a Cork hospital, while the other 165 passengers
and six crew members traveled by bus to Dublin.
http://www.wral.com/brazilian-man-bites-fellow-passenger-dies-on-irish-
aircraft/14984433/#JuQFKSOgWVP7uvvD.99
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FAA Announces Aviation Safety Rating for the Republic of Nicaragua
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) today announced that the Republic of Nicaragua complies with International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards and has been granted a Category 1
rating.
The FAA first assessed the Republic of Nicaragua in 1994 and found it did not
meetinternational standards. While under a Category 2 rating, the country either lacked
laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum
international standards, or its civil aviation authority - a body equivalent to the FAA for
aviation safety matters - was deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise,
trained personnel, record-keeping, or inspection procedures.
The Category 1 status announced today is based on a June 2015 FAA assessment of the
safety oversight provided by theNicaraguan Institute of Civil Aviation (INAC). During a
September 2015 follow on visit to the Republic of Nicaragua, the FAA verified the
necessary corrective actions. A Category 1 rating means the country's civil aviation
authority complies with ICAO standards. With the International Aviation Safety
Assessment (IASA) Category 1 rating, the Republic of Nicaragua's air carriers, which are
able to secure the requisite FAA and DOT authority, can establish service to the United
States and carry the code of U.S. carriers.
As part of the FAA's IASA program, the agency assesses the civil aviation authorities of
all countries with air carriers that have applied to fly to the United States, currently
conduct operations to the United States, or participate in code sharing arrangements
with U.S. partner airlines, and makes that information available to the public. The
assessments determine whether or not foreign civil aviation authorities are meeting
ICAO safety standards, not FAA regulations.
In order to maintain a Category 1 rating, a country must adhere to the safety standards
of ICAO, the United Nations' technical agency for aviation that establishes international
standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance. IASA
information is posted at www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa/.
http://www.aviation.ca/2015101520554/news/international/us/federal-aviation-
administration/20554-press-release-faa-announces-aviation-safety-rating-for-the-
republic-of-nicaragua
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KSU Polytechnic's Alexander Uses Sabbatical to Improve Aviation Safety
Standards in Belize
Raylene Alexander
SALINA - With aviation safety standards in Belize trailing behind many other countries
across the globe, a professor at the Kansas State University Polytechnic Campus devoted
her yearlong sabbatical to assisting the country in advancing its aviation safety process.
Raylene Alexander will host a public presentation about her time in Belize at 3:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 23, in the College Center conference room on the Kansas State Polytechnic
Campus.
Alexander, a member of the Kansas State Polytechnic aviation department since 2006,
spent one year working for the Belize Department of Civil Aviation, which is similar to
the Federal Aviation Administration in the U.S. She first heard about the possibility of the
job from a former student who had spent time in the country and discovered its aviation
industry was in desperate need of technically trained people.
Alexander arrived in Belize in July 2014 and was assigned with improving the Belize
Department of Civil Aviation's state safety program. The program is governed by the
International Civil Aviation Organization, which develops global international standards
and recommended practices for aviation. Belize was having difficulty getting its state
safety program established and looking for assistance.
"We take for granted in the United States the laws and regulations the FAA enforces and
the data they collect," Alexander said. "But in Belize, they don't have a lot of data, which
is the backbone for analyzing safety and mitigating it before accidents and incidents can
happen."
While at the Belize Department of Civil Aviation, Alexander investigated all international
aviation laws and regulations; she rewrote safety manuals and procedures; and she
upgraded the organization's website, all in an effort to progress Belize towards meeting
the International Civil Aviation Organization's state safety standards.
Since returning to Kansas in July 2015, Alexander has used her experiences in the
classroom and for two research papers. In the aviation safety management class she
teaches, Alexander has tasked her students with creating a hazard review for the
expansion of the Belize City Municipal Airport - something she also put together during
her sabbatical - and their project will be compared with her analysis with the Belize
industry. Alexander believes incorporating her international experience into the
curriculum is essential because she wants to prepare her students for cosmopolitan
careers.
"Our campus continues to attract international students to the aviation program, and it's
important that all of our students are prepared to work across the globe, so we must
include more than just the FAA's standards and requirements," Alexander said.
In her Oct. 23 presentation, Alexander will share her experiences working for the Belize
Department of Aviation and talk about what living in Belize is like, touching on housing,
shopping, medical care, safety, money exchange rates, bringing pets and sightseeing
spots.
Before teaching safety, avionics and aviation maintenance at Kansas State Polytechnic,
Alexander was a flight line avionics technician with United Airlines for 14 years. She also
spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an avionics technician.
For more information on Alexander's sabbatical or her community presentation, contact
her at 785-826-2940 or raylene@k-state.edu.
http://salinapost.com/2015/10/16/ksu-polytechnics-alexander-uses-sabbatical-to-
improve-aviation-safety-standards-in-belize/
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Airplane crashes on Colombia's capital Bogota: At least 4 killed
A small aircraft (Beech Duke) crashed in Colombia's capital Bogota, killing at least four
people and injuring at least seven, the local fire department announced Sunday.
The crash took place in the Villa Luz Neighborhood in the central northwest of the city.
According to local media, the aircraft had left Bogota's El Dorado airport in the west of
the capital to fly to the Guaymaral airport, 10 miles north, but crashed into a shop
located a mile from where the plane had lifted off little after 4PM.
It took firemen until 6PM to extinguish the fire.
http://colombiareports.com/airplane-crashes-on-colombias-capital-bogota-at-least-4-
killed/
*****************
Date:
18-OCT-2015
Time:
16:20
Type:
Beech B60 Duke
Owner/operator:
Private
Registration:
HK-3917 G
C/n / msn:
P-410
Fatalities:
Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:
1
Airplane damage:
Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:
Engativa neighborhood, Downtown Bogota - Colombia
Phase:
Initial climb
Nature:
Unknown
Departure airport:
El Dorado Int'l (BOG/SKBO)
Destination airport:
Guaymaral (SKGY)
Narrative:
The aircraft impacted commercial structures in downtown Bogota. The airplane was
consumed by the post-crash fire and the four occupants onboard were fatally injured.
Seven ground injuries and one fatality have been reported.
http://www.aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=180507
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ANA 777 Blocking Runway
Date:
18-OCT-2015
Time:
13:55 JST
Type:
Boeing 777-281
Owner/operator:
All Nippon Airways ANA
Registration:
JA8967
C/n / msn:
27030/37
Fatalities:
Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 315
Other fatalities:
0
Airplane damage:
Minor
Location:
Tokyo International Airport/Haneda (HND/RJTT) - Japan
Phase:
Landing
Nature:
Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:
Fukuoka Airport (FUK/RJFF)
Destination airport:
Tokyo/Haneda International Airport (HND/RJTT)
Narrative:
All Nippon Airways flight ANA/NH252 from Fukuoka to Tokyo/Haneda, a Boeing 777-281,
suffered an oil leak problem from the left main landing gear while the landing roll at the
runway 34L of Haneda. The Boeing stuck on the runway with passengers onboard for an
hour, and the ruway was closed for two hours. No injuries were reported.
http://www.aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=180481
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Aviation legend honored
Burt Rutan
The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) has selected aerospace engineer Burt Rutan
as the 2015 recipient of the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy. It is considered one of the
most important awards in aviation.
Rutan, 72, who earned his Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering at Cal
Poly-San Luis Obispo, has connections to this area that date back to his days at Edwards
Air Force Base, where he worked on numerous projects from 1965 to 1972 as a civilian
flight test engineer.
In 1974, he created the Rutan Aircraft Factory in Mojave. The company developed
prototypes for several aircraft, primarily for home builders.
A few years later, Rutan founded Scaled Composites, an aerospace and specialty
composites development company, which has maintained its location at the Mojave Air
and Space Port since its inception in 1982.
Rutan achieved worldwide recognition for his innovative designs of energy-efficient,
light, strong aircraft. He designed the Voyager which set a flight endurance record in
1986. Piloted by his brother Dick Rutan, Voyager was the first aircraft to fly around the
world without stopping or refueling.
The Voyager is among five of Rutan's aircraft designs which are on display at the
Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
He also designed the sub-orbital spaceplane SpaceShipOne, which won the $10 million
Ansari-X Prize in 2004 and, in the same year, he was listed as one of Time magazine's
"100 Most Influential People in the World."
In 1995, Rutan was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, and
in 2011, he was recognized as a "Living Legend of Aviation," receiving the Bob Hoover
Freedom of Flight Award.
During his career he was also awarded two NAA Collier Trophies, and was the recipient of
the Charles A. Lindbergh award in 2000.
The Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy honors the memory and accomplishments of early
aviator brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright. The trophy is awarded annually to a living
American for "significant public service of enduring value to aviation in the United
States."
http://www.desertnews.com/news/article_bd1995b4-72d5-11e5-875b-
db2a76203e6b.html
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Air force recruits student pilots (China)
XI'AN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force has started
recruiting student pilots for 2016 at 16 aeronautical schools in 11 provinces, part of a
larger military plan to train pilots in cooperation with civilian schools.
The Air Force revealed the news at a ceremony welcoming 110 newly recruited student
pilots Sunday in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Student pilots should be between the ages of 14 and 16. Applicants will be tested on
physical, personality, mental and behavioral criteria over one and a half days to see
whether they have potential as pilots.
Candidate pilots will later have to pass a political evaluation, and those who score high
enough on a junior high school graduation test in June will be chosen. Selected students
will receive training in addition to their regular high school studies.
Successful applicants will receive a subsidy and should board at the schools. They will
sign contracts to commit to applying for PLA aviation universities and participating in
pilot recruitment tests following high school graduation, according to the Air Force.
As air force weaponry becomes more sophisticated, pilots should receive a broader
education, and the new scheme is designed to ensure the need is met, an air force
officer said earlier this year.
The PLA Air Force will also continue to recruit high school graduates without flight
experience. However, it is common in other countries for pilots to gain flight experience
before joining the air force.
The Air Force said Monday that male high school graduates between the ages of 17 and
20, or male military college graduates younger than 24, are eligible to apply to become
air force pilots.
The PLA Air Force recruited just over 1,000 high school students last year.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-10/19/c_134728183.htm
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Reserve units draw pilots with $45,000 incentives
Manpower officials are trying to encourage more junior pilots to join drilling Reserve
units as they struggle to man tiltrotor, helicopter and refueling squadrons.
Pilots who join specific Reserve units and agree to fly for at least three years can receive
an annual payout of $15,000, totaling $45,000, according to Marine administrative
message 483/154, signed Oct. 1.
"The intent is to attract transitioning active component aviators to serve with [Selected
Marine Corps Reserve] units," according to the MARADMIN.
In particular, the Reserve is in need of pilots who fly MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, or AH-1
Super Cobra and UH-1 Venom helicopters, said Lt. Col. Tony Licari, the Reserve
Manpower Plans officer in charge at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
But those who fly the KC-130J Super Hercules or CH53-E Super Stallion are also eligible
if they join certain units, according to the message.
To qualify, however, pilots must agree to fill a specific empty billet at one of eight
Reserve units located across the continental United States, from California to New
Jersey. Additionally, pilots must be a captain or major with 16 or fewer years of
commissioned service.
Officers who are already serving in one of the eight eligible Reserve units, but have
fewer than 16 months of cumulative service at an eligible unit, also qualify. Those
transitioning from the Active Reserve must have an end-of-active-service date no later
than July 31.
Captains passed over for promotion and majors with more than 36 months time in grade
are ineligible.
Marines will be required to repay the bonus at a prorated rate if they fail to meet certain
obligations. Those include:
* Failing to complete 48 drills and annual training each year unless activated for at
least 90 days.
* Failing to meet minimum annual flight time requirements.
* Failing selection to captain twice.
* Losing their designation as a naval aviator or being separated from the Marine
Corps unless for reasons beyond their control, such as an injury that is not the
result of negligence.
Interested Marines should apply between Nov. 1 and Feb. 1 to receive their first bonus
payout on March 1. If they apply between May 1 and Aug. 1, they'll receive their first
payment on Sept. 1. Applications outside of those two windows will not be accepted.
The process could turn competitive if officials receive more bonus applications than there
are slots.
"Due to limited availability of this bonus, as the number of applications for individual
units/locations reaches or exceeds the number of available authorizations, Reserve
Affairs will convene a board to select the best qualified officers to receive the bonus,"
according to the MARADMIN.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2015/10/16/reserve-units-draw-pilots-
45000-incentives/73940340/
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Italy's Tecnam to produce aircraft in China
Production begins immediately on the Tecnam P2006T twin-engine four-seat aircraft in
China under a new agreement between China's Liaoning United Aviation, Shenyan
Aircraft Co., and Italy's Tecnam general aviation aircraft company. The retractable-gear
aircraft is powered by two Rotax 100-horsepower 912S liquid-cooled engines.
Eventually the Chinese company, located at Faque Airport, will build three Tecnam
models for China-based customers, adding the two-seat Tecnam 2008JC and the four-
seat Tecnam P2010 featured recently in AOPA Pilot.
The aircraft are primarily aimed at training pilots. A press release from Tecnam indicated
that China might need a half-million pilots in coming decades.
The Chinese facility will manufacture, sell, and service the aircraft for China, Hong Kong,
Macao, and Taiwan-based operators.
The multiengine P2006T is already certified by China's Civil Aviation Administration of
China (CAAC, like our FAA). In addition to training, it could be used for private owners,
aerial surveillance, maritime patrol, and agricultural applications, the Italian company
said in a statement.
Tecnam is going through the CAAC process for the P2008JC two-seat aircraft and four-
seat P2010.
http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2015/October/17/Italys-Tecnam-to-
produce-aircraft-in-China
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SpiceJet to order smaller aircraft to boost regional connectivity
New Delhi: SpiceJet is looking to place a fresh order for "substantial" number of aircraft,
including smaller aircraft, within this fiscal. The airline has already expanded its fleet in
October by leasing six aircraft which raises its capacity in the winter schedule by 16
percent. And deliveries of the 55 Boeing 737 Max aircraft which were ordered earlier are
slated to start only by end of next year.
Expanding fleet. AFPExpanding fleet. AFP
Speaking to reporters, SpiceJet's chairman Ajay Singh said, "The new government policy
provides significant incentives for regional air travel. We expect that will happen and
there will be big growth. We think that the growth is coming for tier II and tier III towns.
We want to expand on our base of being the largest operator of regional jets in India."
Not just single aisle planes, SpiceJet could also expand its fleet of 15 Q400 Bombardier
aircraft by ordering more Bombardiers or going in for another small aircraft type. Singh
said eventually, the 737 deliveries will be subsumed into the fresh order.
While declining to get into the numbers of aircraft that the airline planned to order, he
did say that the small aircraft that SpiceJet is looking to acquire will seat a maximum of
80 passengers.
"We are negotiating with the manufacturers and we hope that the order can be placed in
this financial year. It will be for a significant number of aircraft although we still have to
decide the numbers. It will also depend on the deal we get from the manufacturers," he
said.
Earlier this week, SpiceJet announced the launch of red-eye flights within the domestic
network on the Delhi - Bangalore route along with a new flight on Delhi - Nanded route,
both commencing its operations on 2 November. On the Delhi - Bangalore sector, the
flight SG 149 will take off at 1 am from Delhi and land at 3.40 am. The airline will be
operating four flights in a week with fares starting Rs 3,899.
Red-eye is a popular concept since these flights tend to be more economical than the
day-time flights. SpiceJet will add close to half a dozen red-eye flights in the winter
schedule.
Singh said the festival season is witnessing a large passenger rush and SpiceJet
continues to operate with 92-94 percent aircraft loads. The airline has already said it will
increase daily flights to 291 this winter from 250 now. It will add Ahmedabad-Goa,
Mumbai-Varanasi and Varanasi-Hyderabad flights. It will increase frequencies on
Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Chennai, Goa - Mumbai, Delhi - Kolkata, Kolkata - Agartala,
Mumbai - Kochi, Hyderabad - Mumbai, and Chennai - Madurai sectors.
http://www.firstpost.com/business/spicejet-to-order-smaller-aircraft-to-boost-regional-
connectivity-2471750.html
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Pocatello airport solar panel project lease approved
POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) - Pocatello officials have approved the lease of nearly 200 acres
at the Pocatello Regional Airport for the creation of a solar panel project.
The Idaho State Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1LYTRsx ) the City Council on Thursday
voted to approve the 20-year lease to Pocatello Solar One LLC. The agreement calls for a
15-year renewal option after the first two decades.
The solar panel company, which is a subsidiary of Ketchum-based Intermountain Energy
Partners, plans to install commercial grade solar panels on the plot of land located along
the airport's northern edge. Solar One will sell the power generated to Idaho Power
Company.
The project is expected to produce more than 2,500 megawatt hours monthly in its
initial stages.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/19/pocatello-airport-solar-panel-
project-lease-approv/
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Leadership: Flight Departments Strive To Strategize
by Matt Thurber
In today's environment it is imperative that each employee think beyond completing the
flight andunderstand how his or her job relates to the mission.
NBAA Leadership Conference co-chair Bob Hobbi sees some worrying trends affecting
business aviation, and he is trying to shine light on the issues, not only at the next
conference (to be held in San Antonio from February 22 to 24) but also among flight
departments.
"Things continue to grow more complex," he said. "There are more regulations than
ever, and more business complexities. Strategizing and trying to manage everything
becomes almost an impossible task." And at the same time, flight departments are under
closer scrutiny to justify their existence.
Hobbi, president of customer-service training organization ServiceElements, is familiar
with these issues, and he and his company's trainers address how flight departments
need to adapt to these fundamental changes. The broad concept that Hobbi offers is that
flight departments must embrace a cultural change so that leaders can avoid the
perceived need to constantly micromanage their employees, freeing up time better spent
on strategy. For example, he pointed out, "If you're trying to focus on a safety culture,
that means that you don't have to check on people. You know you have an organization
that prevents people from crossing the line when it comes to safety. That's culture."
When working with clients, Hobbi said, "We do address this. When we go into a flight
operation, we talk about culture as something that the entire group has to be involved
in." That said, there is often resistance to efforts to change the culture at flight
departments. "We've had chief pilots and directors of aviation get upset about it," he
said, explaining that he is not suggesting ignoring details. "We advocate paying attention
to all details," he explained, "not only aircraft operational items but the minutest details
about passengers and their needs, and finding a value for each [business aircraft] user
in each organization."
What this means is that as a Part 91 corporate operator, a flight department must create
a culture where the focus isn't just on safely flying the company airplane. "That's a basic
expectation," Hobbi said. "Ultimately you have to create a culture where the entire
organization is aware of every passenger's basic needs or additional needs...a culture
where pilots go in to do a preflight and they allow themselves extra time not only for
technical and safety aspects, but also for the customer aspects of the preflight. That's
where we talk about the value of the flight department to the enterprise, and making the
operation indispensable.
"The new trends don't show up with fireworks so everybody sees them," Hobbi
continued. "They just kind of creep in. It starts out with the complexity that's increasing
constantly, whether it's technology, regulation, the business environment and the speed
with which things get done or changed. All of that has an impact on a flight operation.
We address the culture issue, but it's about addressing and safety and culture without
adding more work."
CULTURE IN THE FIELD
Flight department leaders are aware of these issues, and AIN interviewed two
companies' aviation managers to learn how they are addressing culture and maintaining
safe operations while dealing with the ever-increasing complexity of business aviation.
Both preferred to remain anonymous so they could speak freely with AIN.
The manager of one Fortune 500 firm's flight department pointed out that for his
company, the complexities don't stem solely from new FAA rules but have a lot to do
with international travel, including the need to comply with International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) requirements. Many countries default to the International Standard
for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO), which was designed to meet ICAO standards
and recommended practices outlined in ICAO Annex 6, Part II.
"There is more paperwork to comply with, and all of this causes more people to be
involved with the day-to-day operation of the flight department," he explained. "In the
past we could have one person doing scheduling, training and [other] requirements and
have pilots, a mechanic and a dispatcher. Now there are a lot of additional duties. Flying
has gotten a lot more complex than it used to be. The days of coming in and checking
the weather and blasting off are gone."
This manager is acutely aware that his flight department is a cost center for his
company, and adding more work naturally increases the cost of running the operation.
Working with Hobbi, he learned that it is important to focus on the department's mission,
and also to define that mission so that each employee understands how his or her job
relates to the mission. The idea was to get away from just thinking the job was only to
get executives from point A to B safely, he added, "and to focus on why we're actually
there and what value we present."
The department hired a facilitator to work with all employees to help define its mission
and vision statement. This made the process important to everyone and not just a
mandate handed down by the department manager. The same process was used for
creating the department's safety management system (SMS). "If we don't have buy-in,
it's all eyewash," he said, "and we're not safer."
The SMS was done as part of meeting IS-BAO standards, and it formalized processes
that were already in place. "For a lot of flight departments, people are afraid to go to IS-
BAO; they think it creates a lot more work or restrictions," he observed. "It's not telling
you how to do things, just that you have to have a procedure.
"We're fortunate to work for a good company that has staffed us correctly," he said.
"We're not fat on personnel, and we operate lean. They're willing to provide resources to
enable us to be productive, and that allows me to operate effectively and us as a team to
accomplish the mission." He credits his colleagues with helping to make it all work
because everyone is willing to share information. "If you don't have a culture that
encourages you to share, that hinders your job and ultimately affects your passengers.
And if it affects their life, you're going from an asset to a liability."
In this case, the company appreciates what its flight department does. "The CEO has
mentioned a number of times that he couldn't do [what he does] without the corporate
airplane," he concluded.
A DIFFERENT WORLD
The director of aviation for another large company contrasts today's flight department
with what used to be the so-called "sacred cow" corporate operation, where there were
few questions about how money was spent. He acknowledges that it is normal "for
everyone to think that I have it harder than the generation before me." But, he added,
"there is increasing pressure on two fronts: external things such as trying to comply with
IS-BAO, changing avionics requirements (RVSM, RNP, CPDLC, ADS-B is coming, Free
Flight may be in the future), and on top of that you have a lot of internal things going on
in these big companies.
"The world I live in is so different now. For the most part we're pretty well integrated
with the company. We are subject to pressures to cut costs and to do things more
efficiently [just as] everyone in the corporation is subject to."
There is no escaping the need to keep proving the worth of the flight department. "What
is the value aviation brings to the company?" he asked, citing typical questions he faces
every day. "Can we justify the costs? Are [flight department personnel] following rules
with regard to how to spend money, where they stay overnight, when they're training
and so on? There is a lot of internal pressure, too, to cut costs and do more with less."
This director's strategy reflects the need to focus on the people who work in the flight
department, especially considering the challenge of finding qualified personnel. "You
have to surround yourself with good people and give them the freedom to do what they
need to do," he explained. "We no longer live in the world where the chief pilot could
look at every bill and deal with the FAA. He could handle whatever decisions had to be
made about the trips, and also fly. If you don't have a team of people that's really good
at what they do and that you trust with responsibility, you'll hamstring yourself. You'll
never understand everything, just like the IT people know a lot more than you. It's all
about having people you trust and who are really good at their jobs."
The company he works for supports this philosophy, he said. "It is heavily focused on
development of its people. The best way is to develop that kind of talent from within if
you have that ability. If you have the right people, you can always [help] get them more
proficient, as long as they are quick on their feet and tuned in to the organization. The
more time you spend in this business, the more you realize how critical every hiring
decision is."
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2015-10-18/leadership-
flight-departments-strive-strategize
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Call For Papers Reminder - CHC Safety and Quality Summit 2016
The time is running out to submit papers that will characterize the 2016 edition of the
world's largest helicopter-safety conference, the CHC Safety & Quality Summit.
The deadline for submissions is October 30th, 2015.
The CHC Safety & Quality Summit is hosted by CHC Helicopter, the operating company
of CHC Group Ltd.
Industry and safety professionals interested in presenting at the CHC Safety & Quality
Summit may now submit abstracts for the event. The 12th-annual summit will be held
April 04-06, 2016 at the Westin Bayshore Resort in Vancouver. Last year's event drew
more than 750 delegates from about 25 countries.
The 2016 summit will explore topics relevant to the theme "Back to Basics: Prioritizing
Safety in a Challenging Economy."
Most sessions during the three-day conference will be for 90 minutes, though some
subjects may span one-half of or an entire day. Attendance at individual sessions
typically numbers 50 or more people.
The submission form for papers is available at www.chcsafetyqualitysummit.com
Submissions should include proposed session titles, descriptions or outlines, objectives
and audience benefits, presenter biographies, and contact details. Relevant topics may
include:
* Integrity and Management
* Technology and Safety Methods of Training
* Crisis Management
* Organizational Leadership and Viability
* Fatigue Risk Management
* Human Factors
* Risk Assessment and Hazard Management
* Human Error Management
* Flight Data Monitoring
* HUMS
* Organizational Causes of Accidents
* Sustaining and Improving Industry Safety
* Management System for Reducing Safety Risk and Business Risk
* Safety Management Tools
* Crew Resource Management
* Practical Tools
Please send all submissions to summit@chc.ca
About CHC
CHC Helicopter is a leader in enabling customers to go further, do more and come home
safely, including oil and gas companies, government search-and-rescue agencies and
organizations requiring helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul services through the
Heli-One segment. The company has a fleet of more than 230 aircraft and operates in
approximately 20 countries around the world.
Contact Information:
SUMMIT AND PAPER SUBMISSION
Irina Sakgaev
Safety & Quality Applications Specialist
1.604.232.7302
summit@chc.ca
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GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST (1)
I am a Senior First Officer with British Airways (BA), based at London, Heathrow flying
the B777. I have been with BA for 15 years and have been flying the 777 for 6 years.
Before that I was flying the 747-400.
Prior to BA I flew the 747-400 with Virgin Atlantic, B757s and B767s with UK charter
airline 'Airtours' (now part of Thomas Cook) and my professional flying career started as
a manufacturer's pilot - flying Jetstream turboprops for British Aerospace. Before flying
commercially, I worked with British Aerospace within the Technical Sales discipline and
was, in my leisure time, involved with general aviation as an flying instructor.
I am completing a Master's degree (MSc) in Air Transport Management with City
University London and the final piece of that jigsaw is a project/dissertation and I have
chosen the subject of 'Ice Crystal Icing'. Rather than the complex aero/thermodynamic
concepts involved, I am exploring the operational and training challenges that airline
flight crews face with this phenomenon.
This qualification is not being sponsored by my employer; I have undertaken to finance it
myself - the rationale being that as I intend to retire from airline flying in 5 years from
now that new aviation challenges may become available to me based on this
contemporary qualification and my aviation background (that is the plan any way!)
the survey link follows
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ice-crystal-icing
Sincere thanks,
Mike Skelhorn
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GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY REQUEST (2)
Dear Aviation Colleagues,
My name is Tyler Spence, a PhD student at Purdue University working under the
direction of Dr. Mary Johnson in the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology.
We are seeking survey responses for an FAA funded research project targeting ways to
improve the General Aviation safety record through the development of a national flight
information database that collects anonymous flight data, known as Aviation Safety
Information and Sharing (ASIAS). We are developing ways to analyze flight data from
data recorder systems that have flight data monitoring capabilities like the Garmin
G1000, Avidyne Entegra, or Aspen Evolution 1000.
We are seeking feedback from anyone that uses the GA system including (but not limited
to) pilots, maintenance personnel, flight instructors, pilot examiners, aircraft owners
(individual or fleet), flight data analysts, and administrators. The survey comprises of
two main sections: 1) Opinions of flight data monitoring and the use of a national
database that should take about 10 minutes to complete; and, 2) potential flight analysis
graphs and figures that could be included in the application tool that should take about
30 minutes to complete.
You are free to not answer any questions, and stop participation in the survey at any
time. No personally identifiable information will be collected. All answers reported in
analysis will only be in aggregate without any connection to you on any response you
may provide.
Thank you very much for your participation on this survey. Your responses are greatly
appreciated and will hopefully help the aviation industry improve the GA safety record.
If you have any questions at all regarding this survey or the information contained
within, please feel free to contact the researchers directly at either
spence5@purdue.edu or mejohnson@purdue.edu.
***Survey Link
https://purdue.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8nOzSNWYbDGqIsJ
***(copy directly into web browser if link does not work).
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Upcoming Events:
Fundamentals of IS-BAO
November 2, 2015
Hong Kong, China
https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1724162
IS-BAO Auditing
November 3, 2015
Hong Kong, China
https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1724176
BARS Auditor Training
Washington DC?
Tuesday-Thursday 5-7 April
http://flightsafety.org/bars/auditor-training
OSHA & Aviation Ground Safety Training Course (ERAU)
Oct. 19-23, 2015
Daytona Beach, FL
www.erau.edu/cmas
Aviation Safety Program Management Training Course (ERAU)
Oct. 26-30, 2015
Daytona Beach, FL
www.erau.edu/cmas
Aircraft Accident Investigation Training Course (ERAU)
Nov. 2-6, 2015
Daytona Beach, FL
www.erau.edu/cmas
Air Cargo Safety and Security Symposium
ALPA
Washington, DC
November 5, 2015
http://aircargoconference.alpa.org
Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) Seminar (ERAU)
Nov. 17-19, 2015
Daytona Beach, FL
www.erau.edu/sms
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Seminar (ERAU)
Dec. 8-10, 2015
Daytona Beach, FL
www.erau.edu/uas
New HFACS workshop
Las Vegas
December 15 & 16
www.hfacs.com
2016 DTI SMS/QA Symposium
January 3, 4, & 5 2016
Disney World, FL
1-866-870-5490
www.dtiatlanta.com
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JOBS AVAILABLE:
Aerospace Tenure-Track Faculty
Middle Tennessee State University
http://mtsujobs.mtsu.edu/postings/2124
Aerospace (UAS), Tenure-Track Faculty
Middle Tennessee State University
http://mtsujobs.mtsu.edu/postings/2125
*IOSA FLT Auditors
*Experienced Trainers in the area of Safety Management Systems
*Quality Control Specialist
*Manager Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Aviation Quality Services GmbH
www.aviation-quality-services.com
Curt Lewis